Experience from the Pilot Surveys of 2011 Census in Hungary Lakatos Gábor - Kovács Marcell Hungarian Central Statistical Office Census and Population Statistics Department 3rd meeting of the TCG for the Population Censuses in South East Europe Budapest, October 2010

Legal background 2nd of September 2008: Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses 1st of October 2008: Governmental decision in Hungry about census executed by full-scope enumeration 23th of December 2009: Hungarian Census Act in force Reference date: 1st of October 2011 Combined method of electronic and paper-based self-enumeration with personal interview Duration: 1st of October 2011 – 30th of November 2011 Topics: a) population: sex, date of birth, citizenship, national and ethnic affiliation, marital status, present and one year prior place of usual residence, place of birth, fertility, household and family composition, educational attainment, economic activity, occupation, employer, tenure status, disability; b) dwellings: type, type of ownership, floor-space, year of construction, number of rooms, equipment; c) collective living quarters: type, number of beds, time of use

Legal background pt. 2 1st of June 2010: modification of new government adopted –same topics as in Census Act 2001 (religion, enumeration of holiday homes, detailed enumeration of collective living quarters; question about holiday home property, daily commuting, state of health etc.) 2nd modification is under way in order –to have more accurate topics –to shorten data collection period

Brief history of Census Tests Major events of preparation: Quality check of Hungarian Population Register in 2007 Census test in 2008 Census test in 2009 Cenus test in 2010 Pilot Census in 2010

2007: Comparison of Microcensus 2005 with the Population Register To check the quality of the Population Register Using data from 806 localities addresses = 2,2% of all addresses Comparison of addresses and persons (persons identified by date of birth and sex) Results: –Complete addresses matched: 76% –All persons on the address matched: 44% Population Register is not suitable for census purposes.

Pre-test ”focus group” surveys 2008, 2009, persons questioned Aim: to try questionnaires to be used in test, to get info about respondent behaviour Results: Finalization of questionaires for the tests Refined wording of questions Better sequenced questions Flashy skips and helps

Census test 2008 Aim to check the validity of address data - in HCSO’s Address Register - in Hungarian Population Register to test alternative data collection methods to get info about preferencies on data collection methods to test on-line data collection (for the first time in HCSO) Execution on dwelling addresses in 6 localities 2 sub-samples: - 60 % interview ( addresses per enumerator) - 40% self-enumeration (by post, phone, net) short questionnaire mainly with data registered in Hungarian Population Register

Census test Results HCSO’s Address Register =90% correct Enumeration method preferred for Census 2011 Face to face interview: 62% Self-enumeration technics: 35% From registers without any contact with citizens: 3% 61% realisation: –interview districts: 86% –self-enumeration districts: 23% post: 86%, net: 9%, phone: 5% failed interview realised failed self-enumeration post net phone

Census test 2009 Aim to test 2-step enumeration method to test questions to test methods that are low on costs and on respondent burden Execution on addresses in 10 localities 2 steps: - self-enumeration: January - interview: 31 January – 28 February ( addresses per enumerator) 3 types of questionnaire (employment, education, household-family) post-enumeration Survey on 1000 addresses

Census test Results self-enumeration: 38 % (33% in post, 5% on net) time of completing a questionnaire: about 30 minutes in an average household long postal return time self-completed questionnaires in acceptable quality problematic questions: employer

Census test 2010 Aim further testing of self-enumertion response quality in small sample compared to results of Labour Force Survey Execution February 2010 connected to Labour Force Survey 227 addresses in Budapesten 365 addresses in 17 county seat towns 243 addresses in 52 other towns 515 addresses in 131 villages Responses by self-enumeration, by post

Pilot Census 2010 Aim ”dress rehearsal” one year before reference date Execution in October addresses in the capital, a county seat town and six other localities addresses in each enumeration district shorter data-collection period 2 phases: delivery (personal contact) and interview the two phases are going on at the same time longer personal questionnaire (8 pages) responses by interview, self-enumeration (net, paper without post)

Pilot Census Results ?